The rapid growth in wireless communications services, such as broadband Internet access and streaming media applications, leads to an increasing demand for higher data rates. Advancements in multiplexing schemes, such as Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) and Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA), are important for next generation wireless communications systems. This is due to the fact that such schemes can provide many advantages including modulation efficiency, spectrum efficiency, flexibility (e.g., allowing differentiated quality of service), and strong multi-path immunity over conventional single carrier modulation schemes.
OFDM and OFDMA systems often utilize convolutional encoders at the transmitter to provide for error correction. Some systems utilize a parallel concatenated convolutional encoder (often referred to as a Turbo encoder) for encoding a code segment (e.g., a data packet) prior to transmission. Turbo encoders typically employ separate constituent encoders that operate in parallel and in combination with a code interleaver. The code interleaver mixes (interleaves) information bits in the code segment in accordance with a defined interleaving scheme. One constituent encoder encodes the information bits in the code segment to generate a first sequence of parity bits, and the other constituent encoder encodes the shuffled information bits to generate a second sequence of parity bits. The information bits and some or all of the parity bits in the first and second sequences are transmitted.
A complementary Turbo decoding is performed at a receiver unit. For each Turbo encoded segment, the received (soft value) bits are typically scaled, quantized and stored to a buffer. The information and parity bits for the first constituent encoder are then retrieved from the buffer and decoded by a first constituent decoder based on the first constituent code to provide “extrinsic” information indicative of adjustments in the confidence in the detected values for the information bits. Intermediate results that include the extrinsic information from the first constituent decoder are then stored to a storage unit in an interleaved order matching the code interleaving used at the transmitter unit.
Intermediate results and the parity bits from the second constituent encoder are then retrieved from their respective sources and decoded by a second constituent decoder based on the second constituent code to provide extrinsic information indicative of further adjustments in the confidence in the detected values for the information bits. Intermediate results that comprise the extrinsic information from the second constituent decoder are then stored to the storage unit in a de-interleaved order complementary to the code interleaving used at the transmitter unit. The intermediate results are used by the next iteration of the first constituent decoder. The decoding by the first and second constituent decoders is iterated a number of times to yield a final decoded result.
While such encoding and decoding schemes may help reduce bit error rates, with the ever increasing reliability and performance demands of wireless services, there is an ongoing need to continuously reduce bit error rates even further.